Stuff Under the Header

2/29/2016

New Games!!

Patch Notes (Version 1.0.2.0)
- Those air stall changes from last time have had some edits, and I kinda figured this might happen.
  - Jerry: 3 frames
  - Claire: 5 frames
  - Additionally: Options -> Gameplay: You can turn on an option that allows holding down to disable the air stall. Its been an idea ever since WhattayaBrian suggested it like... months ago? It may or may not be janky, I don't think so because down isn't used in normal air combat, but hey, how about an option instead for it. It is off by default.

- Explosive weapons leave a lingering light in dark rooms now. This is mostly useless, but it does look cool. (Some other weapons may create light effects too, but which ones? Oh man!)

- Oh man, what was that other update to this? Something to do with sound? Nah, that's not in this update. There was nothing else ever requested about new sound in the game. (But really, charging up weapon sounds is now in along with a charge complete sound.)

- BIRDS!!

Other Projects
I was approached by a good friend who asked if I could make a game with him. It was a project that he had started ideas and designs for many many moons ago, which I had actually assisted with back in the day. Fortunately I'd even been thinking about this project recently and he had suddenly presented the project to me.

So, what is this project that we started? I can't say too much about it at this point. I did tell a few that my next project would not be a platformer. That was before I knew I'd be working with anyone else or even this game. So yes, I am indeed working on another platformer. It's different after all this time to really start on something new again from scratch. Interesting enough, I've only just started work on it and the physics/control feels better than DT already.

What am I doing on the project? I'm the guy coding most of it. I told my friend if he didn't want to touch the code, that I'd be fine with that. Although he's been jumping into the code too, so yay. (I get it all organized though.) He's doing the writing and like, tons of other things. (Yay, someone else is writing, and he's actually done a lot of writing.)

I've worked with him on things before this and he's also a very self-motivated dude. I've no fears of him bailing on it, especially since most of the project is from his design, as far as characters and the world go. (The characters are adorable.)

But platformer doesn't say anything! So he's a big fan of 'Mischief Makers.' Many of you might be familiar with that. It's an old and pretty great N64 game centered on grabbing and throwing. That was his main inspiration for the project and as a fan of the game myself, I had no issues jumping on the project. It was pretty easy to spot the game features that were certainly inspired from Mischief Makers. There's something to do with pie and cake in the game, apparently. Also yes, I will put a bird somewhere in the game. A piece of cheese may end up somewhere too as that's one of my signatures that started way back when I used to make Unreal Tournament levels. In all of them, I hid a piece of cheese somewhere.

2/26/2016

Untitled Post (I forgot to title this one)

Edit: Looks like we'll be getting 'charging weapon' sound effects next patch.

Patch Notes (Version 1.0.1.9)
This one happened quicker than I expected. The biggest reason for it going out is to fix more crashes for potato machines, but there are a few other misc changes that might interest some of you.

- Equipment Change [Golden Shield]: It no longer awards 7 Game Power back upon a successful parry, but instead extends the parry window of opportunity by 1 frame.

- You guys all know of the subtle bounce effect after hitting an enemy with a melee attack in the air. There was a 2 frame hover time that has been extended to 6, which will allow more control of these.

- The next wave timer for the Ch.16 event is now displayed on screen instead of at the base flag.

- The first wave of the Ch.16 event now has the proper 30 seconds instead of the 15 seconds.

- More crash fixes for lower end machines.

- 3 additional birds were added. This time to the bridge map in Central City, but they only show up after Ch.10.

Other Games
Jeremy and myself have been very interested in The Division. (Despite it being a Tom Clancy's Tom Clancy's game) Though the closer to its release, the less interested I became. Jeremy had pre-ordered it, and seemed to like it. Then its open-beta occurred and actually proved me wrong on how I felt about the game's dark zones. If you know anything about the game, then you know all about those. I figured they'd be a cluttery shitfest, but they weren't, which is a huge plus for me. It has the right amount of pvp and periodic cease-fires.

What I didn't know, but that the game lets you know the moment you start it, is that it's a cover-based shooter. I'm really not a fan of the sticky wall syndrome of cover-based shooters. I tend to find it clunky and unwieldy, usually preferring more loose systems of simply letting me crouch like in say Planetside or Borderlands. That said, I found the cover system in The Division by Tom Clancy's Tom Clancy The Division to actually do well at what its supposed to do.

I'm not sure how long Tom Clancy's Clam Tomcy's The Division will last as far as popularity goes, or for myself, but Jeremy and the open beta have convinced me to play. It has a Borderlands style loot system and possibly having pvp be a bit much on the gear-based side. Though when Jeremy and myself took out people who way out-geared us (though they weren't very good either) I found that wasn't too bad, especially when the dark zone tries to keep people who are within certain levels of each other. If you're going to play it, get a friend. It is not all that fun alone I find.

Oh yeah, I don't like shooters. No really. I don't. Planetside doesn't count.

2/23/2016

Too Tired to Post

Patch Notes (Version 1.0.1.8)
- Enemies now deactivate much closer to the off-screen boundaries resulting in significantly less off-screen bullet spam. (I've had a grievance with this one myself for some time, just took awhile for me to finally address it.)

- Potential fix for the chapter 16 minigame where enemies were spawning with invulnerability in rare moments.

- Various typos.

- Morph Mortar now does what its supposed to do.

Edit
- More birds were added!

Other Stuff
I had other things I was going to post alongside this, but I am way tired and apparently have obtained an illness that is making me feel super drowsy. Will possibly edit this later.

2/14/2016

Fixing Things for Potatoes

Patch Notes (1.0.1.7)
- Dragon Knights will now also be vulnerable to explosive damage when their shield is up at any time. (They didn't have that vulnerability for their final 30% HP)

- Rocketeers now take 1/2x damage from special type. (Changed from 0x)

- Unreal Guy's pitch can now be changed.

- Claire now has a 'look up' frame when holding up.

- More hats.

- More birds! (Oh man, just what we needed!)

- Jerry's hat now displays in his non-X wall cling frame.

- Fixed a 1 pixel off hitbox issue with Jerry and Claire.

- Possible fix for certain maps crashing on lower end machines. (If you had a surface draw error, this update may just fix that for you.)

2/05/2016

Games and a Patch

Patch Notes (1.0.1.6)
- When losing, you will respawn with 75% of your max HP (rounded to the nearest full heart) instead of 50%. Only if you entered the map with less than 75%.

- Rocketeers no longer have full explosive resist. They now take 1x damage. (Both variants of them) For those who have fought against Rocketeers, rejoice, for they are hard to hit with explosives, but at least you're rewarded for it. :P

- After looking at LPs and gathering feedback, plus other things; some enemies in Gate 2, 3, 4, and 5 have had some HP adjustments. There's quite a few so I won't list them. These adjustments range from (-30 to +30) most that I touched went down a notch.

- You may note that as of this version, the skill and equipment relating to the X-Buster have changed values. These provide the same bonuses as before, but the base charge time (with no skill/equipment benefits) has been reduced from 45 to 40 frames.

- After completing Gate 1, the teleport menu will have a notice when highlighting it in the pause menu that should help players better understand when it's available.

- A few minor level edits for Gate C, Mountain Temple, and some Gate 4 areas.

- Fixed an Assist Mode item grabbing exploit. (Thanks to this guy for being a cheater and finding this.)

- Fixed a bug where the player could unlock the MMX ability set before finishing Gate 4.

- And of course, you know what else was added somewhere in the world. I'll give you a hint, it has wings.